ACT Assessment

The ACT® college readiness assessment is a curriculum- and standards-based educational and career planning tool that assesses students’ academic readiness for college.

The ACT is the capstone of our College and Career Readiness System. The test uses the same score scale as ACT Explore, making the system an effective tool to monitor academic progress and student growth. At Southwest all Juniors will take the ACT Assessment free of charge each April.

2023-2024 Testing Information

The ACT is provided at no cost every year for LPS juniors. This year’s test will be on April 9th, 2024. This test will include the writing portion. These results may be reported to colleges that juniors specify for college admission.

For your planning purposes, you can find the “Preparing for the ACT  2023 | 2024” Packet HERE

Below are some of the questions parents and students have asked. If the question is one you are asking, click on it. If your question is not listed, please e-mail Dr. Travis Brady at tbrady@lps.org

Questions

The ACT will be proctored on April 9th, 2024 at 8:15 a.m. Your student should not report any later than this time. Specific room assignments will be sent to their LPS email inbox. This test will include all 4 subject tests, as well as the writing portion.

Your student can be removed for any of the following behaviors/actions:

  • in possession of or using electronic device during testing or breaks
  • looking back at a test on which time has already been called
  • looking ahead in the test booklet
  • using a prohibited calculator (see the ACT website regarding Calculators by clicking on the link). Calculators issued by the Lincoln Southwest High School Mathematics Department are acceptable for the ACT. Or, as the ACT site states, to make it even easier to figure out, you are not required to use a calculator at all.
  • using any device to share or exchange information at any time during testing or during break, including cellular phones
  • using a calculator on any test other than the Mathematics Test
  • attempting to remove test materials, including test questions or answers, from the test room by any means
  • using highlight pens, colored pens or pencils, scratch paper, notes, dictionaries, or any testing aids not authorized in advance by ACT
  • not following instructions or abiding by the rules of Lincoln Southwest High School
  • filling in or altering ovals on a test after time has been called on that test. Filling in or altering ovals on a previous test during a later test, even with the test booklet closed, is prohibited. If a proctor notices that a test has not been completed and later notices that it has been, the proctor will dismiss the student and the student’s answer document will not be scored.

Your student should bring soft #2 pencils (2-3), a calculator accepted by ACT (see the ACT website regarding Calculators by clicking on the link, and note that calculators issued by the Lincoln Southwest High School Mathematics Department are acceptable for the ACT), and your student’s ID. Failure to bring an ID will result in your student being unable to take the test.

Your student should NOT bring his/her cellular phone or other electronic devices (except for an approved calculator) to the test. Additionally, students are not allowed to possess food or drink of any kind (except for approved medical reasons). Since this is not a normal school day, students should not bring backpacks either and will not be provided time to store backpacks as the academic wing will be sealed until testing is ready to start.

No. The date for the free ACT is established by ACT Corporation and LPSDO, and no makeup dates are available for this free proctoring of the ACT.

As this is a standardized test developed by a private corporation with results being provided to accredited colleges, the standards for testing are of the highest level to maintain standardization with similarly testing schools. Failure to adhere to ACT standards consequently results in severe ramifications, namely the dismissal of the student violating such procedures and scores not being reported.